The object of the invention is a multi-purpose, light, collapsible, thermally insulated carrier for a patient or loads, equipped with edges with handles and especially intended for military, field, rescue and catastrophe use, which acts as a bed or portable stretcher, and which can be pulled or pushed like a sledge and which can float in water while supporting several persons
Particularly in field conditions, improvised emergency means must be used for the primary transportation of wounded persons or the victims of accidents, because special equipment suitable for each situation is rarely available. In every emergency, whether in a city or in the country, in water, snow, on weak ice, in breaks in ice, in gullies, ruins, etc., rescue and transportation devices precisely adapted to the situation, weather and season of the year should be available. Until now, no generally applicable solution has existed.
A conventional stretcher can only be used for carrying. It cannot, for example, be pulled or pushed over snow, nor does it float in water. It generally does not have thermally insulated sides to protect the patient. Conventional stretchers are often equipped with feet, intended to protect the patient from contact with the ground, and dampness and loss of heat when placed on the ground. When lifting a patient with a fracture, for example, onto a stretcher of this kind, there is a danger of causing serious complications, such as fat embolism or damage to the spinal or other nerves. Using a conventional stretcher, the patient can only be transported by carrying from the handles, because the feet of the stretcher prevent pulling, and catch on even small obstacles, making it difficult to push the stretcher into vehicles, while snow and clay etc. adheres to them on the ground.
The carrying poles of conventional stretchers are generally always beneath the centre of gravity of the patient, causing lateral instability, especially when moving on sloping surfaces or on uneven ground. Uncertainty is increased by the lack of side and end walls, which can cause the patient to tend to slip and fall when the stretcher is tilted. Even if the patient is secured to the stretcher by lateral straps or belts, limbs can easily slip over the edges of the stretcher, where they are liable to damage from obstacles on the ground, ruins etc., especially during hurried transportation. The limbs of an unconscious patient in particular may be crushed against the side pole of a stretcher, possibly causing permanent damage to nerves or blood vessels.
However, stretchers are known, which present various solutions to the problems described above. Such solutions for solving part of the problem are described in the following publications: U.S. Pat. No. 3,348,245 shows the possible use of a hood, though by means of a different basic construction to the present invention. Various lateral and longitudinal grooves intended to facilitate collapsibility are shown in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,189,746, 5,263,213 and 4,584,729. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,274,864 and 4,473,912 show various kinds of carrying handles and openings. The use of a foot support is also known from, for example, Swedish Patent Publication 466633.